SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

I feel a thing coming on. Scratchy throat, bit of a headache, eyes watery. The only human contact I had was at badminton on Sunday where there were many Chinese.

Will a snort of First Defence save me?
Cow dung is your only hope now.
 
That makes it sound hard to catch but the numbers and speed of spread suggest otherwise.

I've got 4 boxes of product here from Jiangsu, China, from a company that has been closed for two weeks in precaution of the virus (I don't know if this is due to a case of the virus in the workforce or not). I am actually a little concerned about opening the boxes. I need what's inside to complete some client work needed this week.

My colleague and I have decided to PPE up and treat the boxes and the contents carefully. Are we being daft?

You can safely open the boxes. Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses, which are extremely vulnerable to dissication, and don't survive long outside of optimal humidity and temperature conditions, which are only found in living organisms, fluids, etc.

In fact most microorganisms don't live long outside of these mediums. Notable exceptions are some bacteria that form spores, like the ones that cause anthrax or tetanus and can live indefinitely in a suspended state in dry environments and "ressurrect" upon finding optimal conditions.

Source: I'm a doctor, and this specific question was discussed on TV last night between specialist public health doctors, virologists, etc. One of the things that is scaring China the most is the expected economic downturn from this sort of fear.
 
Thanks @Arruda. I opened them anyway, I know I was probably being a bit silly.

Love your tag line! That song is mine and my partners favourite song to do the Samba to.
 
The doctor who first warned the world of the virus just passed away. 34 years old.
 
What's this news of killing 20000 victims? :eek: just heard someone mention it at work.
 
Apparently the Chinese company Tencent (who own shares in reddit among other investments) released the 20k figure yesterday but changed back to the official government figure within a couple of hours.

Like 20,000 confirmed dead? If so, surely someone got a screen grab... it is reddit after all.
 
The doctor who first warned the world of the virus just passed away. 34 years old.
Seems like he’s not dead after all. His heart stopped, but they managed to keep him alive. He’s in critical condition though.
 

I'm not sure about 20k plus fatalities but I wouldn't be in the least surprised if the number of infected was far, far greater. It's what you'd expect really, in fact I'd be shocked it the official numbers were true. I think it's pretty obvious to keep the numbers down as low as possible so as not to spread absolute panic and chaos, and I'm sure Chinese would have forecasted the hit this was going to take on their stock market so that's another reason to keep the numbers down.
 
I'm not sure about 20k plus fatalities but I wouldn't be in the least surprised if the number of infected was far, far greater. It's what you'd expect really, in fact I'd be shocked it the official numbers were true. I think it's pretty obvious to keep the numbers down as low as possible so as not to spread absolute panic and chaos, and I'm sure Chinese would have forecasted the hit this was going to take on their stock market so that's another reason to keep the numbers down.
The problem arises when other countries responses are predicated on what china are saying.

A woman posted a video from Dhaka airport yesterday saying that none of the Chinese arrivals had been checked nor any other passengers from the plane, the people were kept only a few metres away from passengers who were departing Dhaka for other destinations.

https://v.redd.it/s4oagbajd1f41 (the video is in bengali but you can see the lackadaisical level of checks though)
 
Seems like he’s not dead after all. His heart stopped, but they managed to keep him alive. He’s in critical condition though.

Yeah, just saw it. Even WHO declared him dead at some point.

Hope he pulls through!
 
Can we really believe the numbers coming out of China?
 
Did he die though? :)
Worrying as he's quite young. He doesn't fit the profile of most deaths that are reported thus far; the elderly and those with pre-existing health issues.
The chinese guy that died in the Philippines was only 44 too. Not sure either of his overall health, prior to Wuhan flu
 
The problem arises when other countries responses are predicated on what china are saying.

A woman posted a video from Dhaka airport yesterday saying that none of the Chinese arrivals had been checked nor any other passengers from the plane, the people were kept only a few metres away from passengers who were departing Dhaka for other destinations.

https://v.redd.it/s4oagbajd1f41 (the video is in bengali but you can see the lackadaisical level of checks though)
Until this week, it was similar here in India. You'd have very lax checking at airports and clearly loads and loads of people have gotten into various countries unchecked and untested.
 
this will be a pandemic for sure in my opinion.
No effective border control due to lack of necessary equipment and also the fact that someone is contagious before presenting any symptoms.
China seem to have pulled out all the stops but no dice.
Disclaimer - I only studied epidemiology for one term as part of a geography degree 25 years ago so may not know what I am talking about.
 
Can we really believe the numbers coming out of China?
No is the short answer. The cases have been steadily climbing and I wouldn't be surprised if they're drip feeding us the actual numbers.
 
The way this is accelerating, I think the Olympics will be under threat. I was planning on visiting Tokyo, but now I've started making alternative plans.
 
I wonder if there have been any cases of burka women being infected? Probably not.

I bet they are feeling very smug right now, not that we will ever know or see. ;)
 
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Can we really believe the numbers coming out of China?

I'd imagine the Wuhan figures are rather accurate but not so much elsewhere in China. They seem to be doing door to door checks and taking away the infected now :nervous:

Seeing the figures this morning that Japan is up to 80 odd, will be interesting and telling if they can contain it or not from here on in.
 
No is the short answer. The cases have been steadily climbing and I wouldn't be surprised if they're drip feeding us the actual numbers.

The key to a nation that suppresses freedom of information and journalism is watch what they do, not what they say.

China, a country that will imprison a whole huge community (Uighars), and not care if a couple hundred/thousands die as long as the regime is not seen as weak to the West actually stopped internal flights almost immediately (a few days/weeks). That's remarkable on the scale of public action they took. This is scary.
 
Death figures will be accurate but the number of infected will probably only be lab confirmed cases or something like that. The Chinese only lie when they wont be caught out and this is beyond that now.

Seeing the figures this morning that Japan is up to 80 odd, will be interesting and telling if they can contain it or not from here on in.

I think 60 of those are on a cruise ship moored offshore, so not as bad as it seems.
 
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My parents are going over to Australia in March but are stopping off in Singapore for a couple of nights. Likely another re-arrangement on the cards for them after numerous changes to their plans already with the unfortunate Australia bush fires.
Been one thing after another. They've been looking forward for it for 2 years now.
 
It is far more serious than China/the countries are portraying it. I bet if we got the real numbers, proper panic would kick in for most people.

This was handled pretty badly, and still is. This has massive potential to go tits up worldwide. I get that China is acting like this, but most of the Western countries are a disgrace IMO and treating this as some sort of minor local issue.
 
Cant help but compare the feeling I get when talking about this particular virus without thinking of the numerous Zombie films I have watched over the years where it practically starts out in a controlled manner before it naturally goes completely tits-up.
 
Cant help but compare the feeling I get when talking about this particular virus without thinking of the numerous Zombie films I have watched over the years where it practically starts out in a controlled manner before it naturally goes completely tits-up.
That’s what scaremongering does